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Post by Rob Allen on Feb 5, 2019 12:59:25 GMT -5
At a thrift store a few days ago I picked up a copy of this: The Pocket Essential book on Tintin, by Jean-Marc & Randy Lofficier. Haven't had a chance to delve into it yet. Anyone else here familiar with it? Never seen that before, Rob. What's in it? Does it reprint some of the stories or is it more like a guide to the stories? I'm a bit surprised that you haven't seen it; this is a British book - published, typeset, printed and bound in England in 2007. It's all prose, no artwork in it at all. It starts with a general introduction to Tintin and a short biography of Herge, then the bulk of the book is devoted to describing and reviewing the Tintin stories. It ends with a look at Tintin in other media and a bibliography.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Mar 27, 2019 12:31:51 GMT -5
Land of Black Gold (French: Tintin au pays de l'or noir) Original publication dates: September 1939 – May 1940 ( abandoned before it was completed) Subsequent publication dates: September 1948 – February 1950 ( started again and completed) First collected edition: 1950 Author: Hergé Tintin visits: Belgium (Brussels, Antwerp), Khemed (Khemikhal, Hasch Abaibabi, the Bir Kegg oasis, unidentified Bedouin encampment, and other unidentified desert locations). Overall rating: Plot summary available here. Publisher's synopsis: Who is trying to sabotage European supplies of gasoline and why? An international situation develops which threatens to result in war unless the saboteurs can be brought to justice. Tintin is called in, and he and Snowy are soon following the tracks of the evil and dangerous plotters to the deserts and towns of the Middle East, where their efforts to find them are complicated by hazards difficult even by Tintin's standards.Comments: The history and genesis of the fifteenth instalment of The Adventures of Tintin is rather convoluted. It originally started publication in the pages of the Belgian children's newspaper supplement, Le Petit Vingtième, in September 1939, a month after the completion of the eighth adventure, King Ottokar's Sceptre. But after eight months, Land of Black Gold was abandoned by Hergé when the supplement's parent publication, Le Vingtième Siècle, was shut down by the Nazis upon Germany's invasion of Belgium in May 1940. Given the fact that, at this point, Land of Black Gold featured the Germans as the story's antagonists, clearly Hergé had to discontinue the story for his own safety. The adventure sat unfinished for eight years, before the author – at the urging of his wife – decided to return to it. Instead of simply re-starting the adventure at the point where he had left it in 1939, Hergé chose to restart Land of Black Gold from scratch, implementing a number of changes to the first half of the adventure, in order to update it from its pre-war origins. This second version of Land of Black Gold ran in the pages of the new Tintin magazine from September 1948 until February 1950. The alterations that Hergé made to this second version of the story included introducing Captain Haddock, Professor Calculus and Marlinspike Hall into the book – none of which had been created back in 1939 – in order to bring the story into line with current Tintin continuity. Upon completion, Land of Black Gold was collected into the standard 62-page album format, and was available for over twenty years. However, when it came time for the book to be translated into English in 1971, Hergé's UK publisher insisted that the story be updated. It was Hergé's assistant, Bob de Moor, who undertook most of the updating of the artwork, while the author transferred the action from a British controlled area of Palestine (which had actually ceased to exist in 1948) to the fictional Arabian state of Khemed. As a result of this revision, background details – such as Jewish shop signs and Hebrew advertising – were changed to Arabic, and a number of British military characters were excised from the story. Here's a comparison of panels from the 1950 version of the book and the third revision from 1972. Notice that the British Navy personnel have been changed to Arab military police, and also that the technology in the ship's radio room has been updated... It is the commonly available, third revision of Land of Black Gold from 1972 that I will be basing my review on (mainly because that's the only copy of the book I own! ). For anyone who might be interested, the point in this commonly available edition of the book which corresponds to the part of the story where the strip was cancelled in 1939 is on page 30, with Tintin and Snowy just about to be caught in a ferocious desert sandstorm. The backdrop to Land of Black Gold has Europe on the brink of an armed conflict, with an unnamed "hostile foreign power" threatening to plunge the world into war. Clearly this "foreign power" was the Germans in the original version of the story, but, even with the Nazi's involvement having been essentially erased in the redrawn 1972 version, the spectre of the Second World War hangs heavy over this adventure – particularly in the first third of the book. As such, it's somewhat reminiscent of The Shooting Star, which is another WW2 era Tintin book with a pervading sense of doom throughout. However, this brooding, troubled beginning eventually gives way to a much more lighthearted tale, perfectly illustrating the pre and post-World War II origins of the adventure. The story opens with a spate of exploding car engines across Belgium, due to someone having tampered with petroleum supplies. Captain Haddock is mobilised and sent off on a secret mission by the navy, so it's left to Tintin, Snowy and the bungling detectives Thompson and Thomson to investigate who is behind the sabotaging of the nation's petrol. I've read that this plot point was inspired by Germany's attempts to defend the Romanian oilfields prior to the outbreak of World War II, but it's changed in the 1972 edition to a rivalry between the petroleum companies Arabex and Skoil. Land of Black Gold spends a lot of time focusing on The Thom(p)son Twins, with the incompetent detectives being their usual comedic selves. The scenes in which they are driving through the Arabian desert and suffering various mishaps as a result of desert mirages, are actually quite entertaining, even if they aren't quite as funny as Hergé can sometimes be. The old "mirage schtick" – in which the detectives think they see a desert oasis or settlement, only to find dry, desolate sand – is milked for all its worth... For me, one of the least satisfactory elements in Land of Black Gold is Hergé's shoehorning of Captain Haddock into the story. The Captain makes a one panel cameo appearance early on in the book (with his faithful butler Nestor loitering in the background), but the navy's orders essentially remove him from the bulk of the story. When he does return – improbably turning up in the nick of time to rescue Tintin – Hergé never bothers to explain how Haddock came to be in the villain's compound at that precise time. In fact, Hergé actually has some fun with the unlikely nature of the Captain's sudden appearance and lack of explanation. I must admit, it is mildly amusing how Haddock is continually interrupted when he's trying to explain how he got there... Still, as humorous as this all is, it's also actually kind of lazy writing on Hergé's part. Uncharacteristically lazy, actually. It's as if Hergé's heart wasn't really in the story and he couldn't be bothered to think up an adequate explanation for how the Captain came to be in Khemed. It's interesting that, having made the effort to insert Haddock into the story at its climax, Hergé should do such an openly shoddy job of accounting for his presence. In addition to Haddock, Hergé also brings back some other older characters and inserts them into the story. We see the return of the salesman Oliveira de Figueira, who was last seen in Cigars of the Pharaoh, and the opera singer Bianca Castafiore, who is heard singing on the radio at one point. In addition, we get the return of the villain Dr. Müller, who we last saw leading a gang of counterfeiters in The Black Island. Müller has apparently escalated his criminal activities from counterfeiting to trying to start a war! The villain's plan is somewhat ill-defined, but essentially it seems to be about forcing Khemed's oil industry to switch from a contract with Arabex to one with his employer Skoil Petroleum. Müller's mountaintop lair is like something out of a James Bond film, and he's really the only remaining trace of Germany's involvement in the revised edition of the book. He's described as "a secret agent for a major foreign power", and although Hergé never states which foreign power he works for, it's clear from his use of the phrase "auf wiedersehen!" that he's of German extraction. As the story builds to a climax, we get a thrilling – though somewhat farce-like – car chase, with Tintin and Haddock trying to apprehend Müller, who has escaped with The Emir of Khemed's son, Abdullah. The Emir's practical joke-favouring son is a nice addition to the story, though his penchant for mischief could've easily been annoying, rather than humourous, in lesser hands. There's wordplay aplenty in the book (I presume from Hergé's English translators, Michael Turner and Leslie Lonsdale-Cooper), with the city of Khemikhal sounding phonetically like "chemical", for example. Similarly corny wordplay appears in the names of the desert well of Bir Kegg (beer keg), the city of Hasch Abaibabi (Hush a-bye baby), and the rebel sheikh being named Bab El Ehr (babbler). As we've come to expect from Hergé by now, the artwork in Land of Black Gold is very good, with the panels depicting the streets of Khemikhal in particular being meticulously drawn, though they are rather small... Something else I just want to make mention of is that, for what I believe is the first time thus far in The Adventures of Tintin, the boy reporter appears between pages 8 and 40 in regular trousers, rather than his signature plus-fours!! By the story's close, Tintin has helped to prevent the outbreak of war, and political tensions have eased somewhat. At one point, Tintin describes the adventure as another "episode in the perpetual war over oil"; how little things have changed in the years since this tale was penned and how relevant Hergé's take on Middle Eastern politics still is. Overall, Land of Black Gold is, due to its pre-war origins and post-war completion, a little bit of a mess. It has quite a disjointed feel to it, and it's a little strange to return to the more political tone of the likes of King Ottokar's Sceptre after the pulpy vibe of the past four books. Another complaint would be that, although the story is amusing in places, it's not nearly as chuckle-inducing as most Tintin adventures are. Ultimately, despite the mystery of the doctored petroleum and the later political developments, this isn't a particularly gripping adventure. That said, it's still an entertaining enough read, but it falls short of the excellence of some of the more recent books in the series.
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rossn
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Post by rossn on Mar 27, 2019 14:24:50 GMT -5
Land of Black Gold (French: Tintin au pays de l'or noir) Original publication dates: September 1939 – May 1940 ( abandoned before completion) Subsequent publication dates: September 1948 – February 1950 ( started again and completed) First collected edition: 1950 Author: Hergé Tintin visits: Belgium (Brussels, Antwerp), Khemed (Khemikhal, Hasch Abaibabi, the Bir Kegg oasis, unidentified Bedouine encampment, and other unidentified desert locations). Overall rating: Yes! I was just thinking about these reviews earlier today, so awesome to see another one! Wonderful analysis as always Confessor! I've only ever read the 1972 version so it is fascinating to see those panels from the 'middle-period' version, which I've always thought sounded interesting. It is also intriguing to see things like the updating of technologies. Back in The Black Island (another Dr. Müller story oddly enough) I know I wasn't as enamoured with the story as you were, partly because Bob de Moor's 'updating' felt really jarring in a very 1930s story surrounded by two stories also felt very much of the 1930s. Here it doesn't bother me nearly so much because the story itself was updated and in any case has more of a timeless feel - an "episode in the perpetual war over oil" indeed! While Thom(p)son Twins were fun and I think I enjoyed Captain Haddock's non-explanation a little more than you for me the comedic highlight was Oliveira de Figueira and his wonderful, incredibly intricate stories seemingly invented on the spot. Very Baron von Munchausen-like and a very neat idea. I think in some ways Dr. Müller comes across as more threatening figure that Rastapopoulos, maybe because the good evil doctor seems willing to get his hands dirty in a proper fight and even die rather than be captured. Rastapopoulos always came across to me as smug and bloated, relying on henchmen. Overall, even if I liked parts a little more than you I can't quibble with your overall conclusion and rating. It isn't bad by any means but I think it shows in being a bit stitched together. And yes seeing Tintin in trousers broke my brain a little!
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Mar 28, 2019 8:46:41 GMT -5
Yes! I was just thinking about these reviews earlier today, so awesome to see another one! Wonderful analysis as always Confessor! You must be psychic! Thanks for the nice comments. I've only ever read the 1972 version so it is fascinating to see those panels from the 'middle-period' version, which I've always thought sounded interesting. I don't believe that the earlier editions of the book have ever been published in English. The black & white facsimile editions of the original collected editions of some of the earlier Tintin stories that were released in English in the 2000s only went up as far as King Ottokar's Sceptre, I believe. You know, I think Moulinsart have really missed a trick with Tintin collectors in English speaking territories, and, to a lesser extent, elsewhere too. In addition to the main versions of the 24 books, we really should have things like the earlier editions of The Black Island and Land of Black Gold released in English, in historically accurate facsimile editions, aimed at the Tintin collector rather than the average fan. In fact, why not release deluxe hardbacks collecting the various Tintin adventures exactly as they originally appeared in strip form, in the likes of Le Petit Vingtième, Le Soir, and Tintin magazine. You know, with all the "lost" scenes that didn't make it into the commonly available 62-page books. I mean, look at the gorgeous collections of rare American newspaper strips that IDW has put out in recent years, and how popular they've been with collectors. Why aren't the Tintin strips available like that? There would certainly be a small, but guaranteed market for them in most English-speaking countries, I would think. While Thom(p)son Twins were fun and I think I enjoyed Captain Haddock's non-explanation a little more than you for me the comedic highlight was Oliveira de Figueira and his wonderful, incredibly intricate stories seemingly invented on the spot. Very Baron von Munchausen-like and a very neat idea. Yeah, Oliveira de Figueira is a great minor character, and a brilliant satire on bulls**ting salesmen everywhere! I'm not sure he appears again though, does he? I might be wrong, but I'm thinking that Cigars and Black Gold are his only two appearances??? I think in some ways Dr. Müller comes across as more threatening figure that Rastapopoulos, maybe because the good evil doctor seems willing to get his hands dirty in a proper fight and even die rather than be captured. Rastapopoulos always came across to me as smug and bloated, relying on henchmen. I agree. Dr. Müller is much more sinister than Rastapopoulos. Even his appearance, with his severe, clean-shaven bald head and stern features, is more threatening than Rastapopoulos's, who has a bulbous, cartoonish nose and looks for all the world like any other middle-aged business tycoon.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Mar 28, 2019 8:50:07 GMT -5
I've missed these. Glad to see you back at it, Confessor!
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Post by Confessor on Apr 4, 2019 10:02:34 GMT -5
Destination Moon (French: Objectif Lune) Original publication dates: March 1950 – September 1950 First collected edition: 1953 Author: Hergé Tintin visits: Belgium (Marlinspike, Brussels), Syldavia (Klow, Sprodj Atomic Research Centre), sub-orbital space. Overall rating: Plot summary available here. Publisher's synopsis: Tintin, Snowy and Captain Haddock are suddenly called by Professor Calculus to the Sprodj Atomic Research Centre in Syldavia. They are amazed to find the Professor developing a space rocket; and Tintin and his friends are unaware of the dangers that await them. Despite the mishaps, the adventure sets off on the most hazardous journey ever undertaken by man.Comments: Following completion of Land of Black Gold, Hergé turned his attention to a story which would take Tintin into outer space and to the Moon. The idea of Tintin travelling to the Moon had first come to him while he was still working on the The Seven Crystal Balls/ Prisoners of the Sun two-parter in the late-1940s. He had intended to undertake writing of the story as soon as he had finished those books, but, at the urging of his wife, he instead returned to the unfinished Land of Black Gold. Once that strip was completed, however, he again turned his attention back to his envisaged Moon adventure. The concept of sending men into space and even to the Moon had long been a mainstay of science fiction by the time Hergé began preparations for his story. By the late 1940s, scientists had actually begun to use the technology developed by Nazi Germany's V-2 rocket program – which rained such appalling destruction down on London and Europe in the closing stages of World War 2 – to achieve this goal. Hergé had followed this scientific progress closely, and the similarities between the design of Professor Calculus's space rockets (especially the first X-FLR 6 model) and Germany's V-2 are obvious... Realising that such a journey into space would be a dramatic departure from the pulp detective/mystery adventures that Tintin usually starred in, Hergé shrewdly judged that the only way to successfully carry off such a project would be to have it firmly rooted in scientific fact, rather than science fiction. As a result, Hergé dropped anything from his script that seemed fanciful or unrealistic. He did a lot of research into current scientific and astronomical thinking, in order to give his new Tintin adventure the verisimilitude he deemed necessary. He also consulted with two experts on the subject: Bernard Heuvelmans, who had authored the scientific book L'Homme parmi les étoiles ("Man Among the Stars") in 1944, and the physicist Alexander Ananoff, who had authored L'Astronautique ("Astronautics") in 1950. He even went so far as to construct a scale model of the rocket that would take Tintin into space, with removable panels to show the craft's interior. The model was used as a tool to make sure that all of the details of the crew's quarters were correct every time they appeared on the comic page. Here's Hergé posing with the model in the mid-50s, alongside a more recent colour photograph of it... Interestingly, despite not wanting to incorporate any science fiction influences into his story, Hergé's private records show that, actually, he was partly inspired by the 1950 American sci-fi movie, Destination Moon. Apart from copying the film's title, the publicity poster below shows the influence that the film had on Hergé's rocket design (note the rung ladder down its side, just like on Professor Calculus's rocket), and the rugged, mountainous depiction of the lunar terrain, which will be seen in the next book, Explorers on the Moon... Hergé had previously utilised a two-part format for his Red Rackham and Incan adventures, and he realised that another would be required in order to do his Moon expedition justice. Due to the extended length of the adventure and the sheer amount of attention to detail that Hergé demanded, it was at this point that he formally established Studios Hergé: a Brussels-based team of artists who would aid him in completing the project. Hergé had previously employed a small staff of assistants to help him complete Prisoners of the Sun a couple of years earlier, but Studios Hergé would be a much more permanent entity. The studios were formed around Belgian cartoonist Bob de Moor, who Hergé recruited as his main artistic assistant. I've read online that it was de Moor who rendered most of the rocket ship's instrument panels in this two-parter, along with all the wonderful moonscapes seen in Explorers on the Moon. A number of other artists who were already working on ancillary strips in Tintin magazine were also absorbed into Studios Hergé, as were a number of secretarial and administration staff. Below is a photograph of the Studios Hergé team from 1958 (Bob de Moor is on the far left, and Hergé is in the centre, just to the right of the picture on the wall)... Unfortunately, even with his Studios Hergé team behind him, the obsessive attention to detail that the Moon adventure demanded played havoc with Hergé's health. By the time Explorers on the Moon was finished, Hergé was on the verge of a nervous breakdown due to overwork and exhaustion. Upon completion of the two-part story, he vowed that he would ease his publishing schedule in the future and produce new Tintin adventures at his own pace. Destination Moon was initially serialised in the pages of Tintin magazine between March and September 1950, with the standard 62-page book edition being published in 1953 – just prior to completion of the strip version of Explorers on the Moon. The story opens with Tintin, Snowy, and Captain Haddock arriving home to Marlinspike Hall – presumably from the Arabian adventure shown in Land of Black Gold. Haddock remarks on the new paint job that his stately home has received; again, I presume that this is due to the rather destructive experiments that Professor Calculus conducted there in the previous book. Upon finding that Calculus has mysteriously disappeared, Tintin and his companions' worst fears are allayed by a telegram inviting them to join the professor in Syldavia, where he is busy building a Moon rocket for the Syldavian government. We last saw the country of Syldavia in King Ottokar's Sceptre, but since the events of that story a large quantity of uranium has been discovered in the Zymylpathian Mountains, which enabled Syldavia to become a world leader in nuclear science. Upon reaching the Balkan country, Tintin, Haddock and Snowy are all taken to the secretive Sprodj Atomic Research Centre, where they are reunited with Calculus, who informs them of his forthcoming Moon mission, which they are all to be a part of. I think the first thing that strikes me about Destination Moon is just how amazing the artwork is. Hergé seems to have taken another giant leap (excuse the pun) in terms of the quality of his art, much like he did in The Blue Lotus. The meticulous attention to detail – particularly in his renderings of the various pieces of scientific hardware – are breathtaking. For example, Hergé's depiction of the atomic pile at the Sprodj Research Centre is fantastic... So too are his depictions of the interior of the space rocket, although, as previously mentioned, I believe that Hergé's assistant Bob de Moor is responsible for much of the detailing here... There are also some beautiful night-time scenes towards the end of the book, and the full page drawing of the rocket and its gantries on page 42 must be one of the most impressive panels in any Tintin book... It's clear that Hergé was absolutely in love with the hardware and science behind the Moon expedition, and that love comes through on virtually every page of this book. Destination Moon began publication over 7 years before Russia launched Sputnik 1 (the first man-made satellite) into low Earth orbit, and it would be another another 12 years before mankind would actually follow in Tintin's footsteps and attempt to walk on the Moon. Remarkably, most of the science associated with Calculus's mission holds up surprisingly well to modern scrutiny; there are one or two problems, yes, but considering that Hergé began working on this story as early as 1949, its a remarkably prophetic account of a journey into space. As an aside, while there are plenty of parallels between events in these two early '50s adventure and America's 1960s Apollo program, there are two moments in particular that really make me think of specific Apollo missions. Firstly, the mission to circle the Moon that the unmanned test rocket undertakes (and which Tintin regrettably has to destroy in order to stop it falling into enemy hands), is very similar to the lunar flyby of Apollo 8. And secondly, when Haddock wants to smoke his pipe on board the rocket, engineer Frank Wolff won't allow him to because of concerns about the burning tobacco consuming the precious oxygen supplies. Never mind that! What about the risks of having a naked flame in a pure oxygen atmosphere?!! That's exactly how astronauts Grissom, White and Chaffee died in Apollo 1, when an electrical short caused a fire in the pure oxygen environment of their command capsule. I think it's telling that Calculus's space rocket is powered by nuclear energy. That's definitely a sign of the post-war nuclear age in which the book was written. Although, why you would need atomic thrust once the rocket is out of Earth's atmosphere and on its trajectory to the Moon is puzzling – the craft's momentum would carry it through space, after all. I guess with nuclear engines they can just get to the Moon even quicker! While it's true that Hergé is clearly enamoured with the science and hardware behind the expedition, that isn't to say that he has eschewed the more human and comedic aspects of the story. There are plenty of warm character moments in Destination Moon, such as the delicious scene in which Calculus has a major tantrum, having been accused by Haddock of "acting the goat." It's hilarious to see the eccentric professor loosing his s**t like this, and the body language and facial expressions that Hergé employs in these panels are a veritable master-class in comic book humour... Of course, as hilarious as Calculus's tirade is, it also serves a handy narrative purpose, by allowing the reader to see all of the important areas of the research facility. Nevertheless, this sequence is so full of humour that you can just feel Hergé's joy at drawing these scenes coming through on every panel. In fact, the artwork in Destination Moon is so dense and detailed that, sometimes, the more character-driven moments are consigned to the edges of a particular frame. Take for example Snowy's pitiful expression – having just done battle with Marlinspike Hall's resident cat – in the panel below... This is such a small detail, and so disconnected from the central plot and Haddock's dialogue, that the reader could easily miss it. There are plenty of such "background" character moments in this book that an eagle-eyed reader will enjoy spotting. Snowy actually plays a slightly increased role in this story, when compared to recent Tintin adventures. From problems with his ill-fitting contamination suit, to the welcome return of his sarcastic and cynical asides, a fair bit of humour comes from Tintin's loyal fox terrier. In particular, Snowy's fourth-wall-breaking aside on the slightly formulaic nature of the Thom(p)son Twins' entrance into most Tintin adventures really cracks me up... As fantastic as Hergé's artwork and the technical aspects of his script are in Destination Moon, the book is not without its problems. For one thing, Tintin himself gets obscured somewhat by the supporting characters. In fact, he's almost a co-star in his own book for the first 20 pages or so. It's only when he gets out of the research centre on his own (to investigate some suspected international espionage) that Tintin again becomes the main focus of the story – and even then, it's only for a limited time. Destination Moon is more like an instalment of "The Adventures of Captain Haddock & Professor Calculus", than a Tintin adventure. In fact, I think that you could argue that it is Calculus who is really the central character in this two-part arc, since it is his scientific know-how and exploratory vision that propels the story forwards. Another criticism of Destination Moon would be that, at times, the narrative gets too bogged down with technical detail. While this is undoubtedly a sign of Hergé's thoroughness and his love of the real world science behind the Moon mission, it unfortunately makes for some rather verbose dialogue. Still, these two criticisms, while significant, don't effect my enjoyment of the book too much. I particularly like the international espionage sub-plot that runs throughout the story, and which comes to a climax in the next book. The build-up of tension in the lead-up to the launch of the rocket is also really gripping. Something else that is very welcome is that Hergé gives the hard of hearing Calculus an ear trumpet. This results in some genuinely funny moments, but it's also a neat device that allows the professor to get a lot of exposition across, without interruption from the usual gags about his deafness getting in the way. It would've really bogged the book down if the reader had had to endure a stream of gags breaking up the already verbose technical explanations, as Hergé no doubt realised. Calculus's ear trumpet is a deft and elegant solution to this problem. Summing up, I'd have to say that Destination Moon is an excellent Tintin adventure. Yes, it is rather a dense read, due to the excess of science-related dialogue, and yes, there are issues with Tintin not really being much more than a co-star in his own book – all of which means that I will have to dock it half a star. But in spite of these problems, the story is both exciting and fascinating. The artwork is stunning, and the whole thing is bursting with a wonderful sense of post-war optimism; this is a story that embraces the brave new, nuclear-powered future of the 1950s, and gives the reader plenty of action, excitement and humour in the process. Destination Moon and its follow-up represent a new artistic peak for Hergé and, as a fan of all things space-related, they both come highly recommended by me.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Apr 4, 2019 10:48:43 GMT -5
My god some of those visuals are breathtaking!
Every time you post a new review, I get back into the internal debate of "Should I try reading Tintin again?" and when. This review is really really pushing it closer to the top of my To Read list.
I guess I've never really considered how closely European nations were or were not watching the great space race. It never really occurred to me to see a Belgan cartoonist so enamored with the American space program.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 4, 2019 12:26:49 GMT -5
My god some of those visuals are breathtaking! They really are, aren't they? Hergé had definitely hit a new artistic peak with these two Moon-themed books. My god some of those visuals are breathtaking!Every time you post a new review, I get back into the internal debate of "Should I try reading Tintin again?" and when. This review is really really pushing it closer to the top of my To Read list. Glad to hear it. The series really is fantastic, for the most part. I guess I've never really considered how closely European nations were or were not watching the great space race. It never really occurred to me to see a Belgan cartoonist so enamored with the American space program. Well, keep in mind that those parallels that I mention were only apparent years after these books were written. Tintin's moon adventures pre-date America's Mercury program by a good few years, let alone the Apollo program which didn't happen until the '60s. The parallels in the piece of my review you've quoted are a mixture of coincidence and Hergé's accuracy in depicting space flight, years before it had actually happened.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Apr 4, 2019 14:20:35 GMT -5
keep in mind that those parallels that I mention were only apparent years after these books were written. Tintin's moon adventures pre-date America's Mercury program by a good few years, let alone the Apollo program which didn't happen until the '60s. The parallels in the piece of my review you've quoted are a mixture of coincidence and Hergé's accuracy in depicting space flight, years before it had actually happened. Well that's even more impressive! My mistake for not looking at the date of publication.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 5, 2019 8:28:51 GMT -5
Well that's even more impressive! My mistake for not looking at the date of publication. Quite. Actually, thinking about it, perhaps I didn't make it totally clear that Hergé's moon adventure was years before the Apollo space program. I'm such an enthusiast about Apollo myself, that I probably tend to assume that everyone knows it was a '60s thing, which might not be the case. So I think I'll reword the relevant paragraph of my review to make it clearer. Thanks for the unwitting feedback!
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rossn
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Post by rossn on Apr 8, 2019 12:29:47 GMT -5
Destination Moon (French: Objectif Lune) Original publication dates: March 1950 – September 1950 First collected edition: 1953 Author: Hergé Tintin visits: Belgium (Marlinspike, Brussels), Syldavia (Klow, Sprodj Atomic Research Centre), sub-orbital space. Overall rating: Another great review Confessor! I have to admit I have somewhat mixed feelings about this book and its immediate sequel. Technically they are masterpieces in art, design and research and (at least in the second part) they are very tense and well constructed adventures. I also loved some of the comedy here. Having said that... I don't know, much like Black Island I can appreciate the book rather than actually love it. I suppose my main issue - and I recognise that is very much personal taste rather than a flaw of the book - is that the extremely detailed technical work and the pretty hard science (certainly for a mid-century comic) just don't appeal me to me much. One of the big appeals to me of the Tintin series has always been the extremely strong place and period feel. I love the fact that King Ottokar's Scepter is so firmly of the 1930s and how even the wartime books that go out of their way to avoid contemporary events like Red Rackham's Treasure have a gorgeously pulpy globetrotting adventure feel. Looking ahead I'm fond of the Cold War-esque The Calculus Affair. Destination Moon just seems a bit cold and detached from all that. Instead of a lovingly detailed foreign country we get a sterile and industrial research lab; endless tubes and concrete corridors. I know it is set in Syldavia but really other than the Balkan-esque names it could really be anywhere with a set of mountains. Indeed we don't even know whether Slydavia is still a monarchy as King Muskar makes no appearance and gets no mention. For that matter one wonders why the Syldavian government with a hostile Borduria next door is so happy to throw money and vast resources at a foreign professor who seems happier to take his friends dog to the moon rather than one of their own countrymen - unless Wolff is meant to be from Syldavia (was his nationality given in the French version?) Again I will say that I think Destination Moon is objectively very good. It just isn't what I personally want from my Tintin.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 8, 2019 13:54:59 GMT -5
I have to admit I have somewhat mixed feelings about this book and its immediate sequel. Technically they are masterpieces in art, design and research and (at least in the second part) they are very tense and well constructed adventures. I also loved some of the comedy here. Having said that... I don't know, much like Black Island I can appreciate the book rather than actually love it. I suppose my main issue - and I recognise that is very much personal taste rather than a flaw of the book - is that the extremely detailed technical work and the pretty hard science (certainly for a mid-century comic) just don't appeal me to me much. I think that's a perfectly valid response to the two Moon adventures, rossn. Myself, I've been interested in space exploration since I was a child -- especially the mid-century American space exploration of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs. So, obviously my enjoyment of these books is going to be coloured by that interest. If you're not much into astronomy, rocket science and space exploration, then I guess these probably unlikely to be your favourite Tintin stories. As noted in my review, my big criticisms of Destination Moon are that Tintin himself gets rather overshadowed by Captain Haddock and Professor Calculus, and that the "hard science" you refer to sometimes makes the dialogue a bit of a slog. One of the big appeals to me of the Tintin series has always been the extremely strong place and period feel. I love the fact that King Ottokar's Scepter is so firmly of the 1930s and how even the wartime books that go out of their way to avoid contemporary events like Red Rackham's Treasure have a gorgeously pulpy globetrotting adventure feel. Destination Moon just seems a bit cold and detached from all that. Instead of a lovingly detailed foreign country we get a sterile and industrial research lab; endless tubes and concrete corridors. Again, this is a fair enough opinion. However, I would counter slightly by saying that I've always regarded the authentic period detail and strong sense of geographical place you mention to be by-products of Hergé's meticulous dedication to accuracy. Whatever else they might be, the Moon books are definitely meticulously accurate (at least by the standards of early 1950s science and knowledge). So, I think Hergé is again on point as far as authentically conjuring a specific place and time goes, it's just that this time it's a secret rocketry complex, rather than an exotic foreign location. Looking ahead I'm fond of the Cold War-esque The Calculus Affair. Yes, The Calculus Affair has always been a favourite of mine, as well. I'm looking forward to re-reading it soon for these reviews. ...we don't even know whether Slydavia is still a monarchy as King Muskar makes no appearance and gets no mention. Good point. I hadn't thought of that. I suppose it's certainly possible that the Syldavian royal family didn't survive the Second World War. For that matter one wonders why the Syldavian government with a hostile Borduria next door is so happy to throw money and vast resources at a foreign professor who seems happier to take his friends dog to the moon rather than one of their own countrymen - unless Wolff is meant to be from Syldavia (was his nationality given in the French version?) I've always assumed that Dr. Wolff is Syldavian myself, as are the other technicians and scientists at the Sprodj Atomic Research Centre. As for Borduria, my memory's hazy about mentions of the place in later Tintin books, but in King Ottokar's Sceptre it is clearly analogous with the Axis powers of WW2. Is Borduria even shown as being hostile towards Syldavia after King Ottokar's Sceptre? Again I will say that I think Destination Moon is objectively very good. It just isn't what I personally want from my Tintin. I think Hergé would've probably agreed with that sentiment. As successful as the Moon books were, and as important as they clearly were to Hergé himself, I think it's telling that, afterwards, the Tintin books return to the more familiar mystery/detective themed stories that we associate with the series. Hergé obviously realised that he was in unusual territory for Tintin with these books; right from the moment he started writing them he was careful to cut out anything fanciful or unrealistic from the two-parter. I mean, there are no Moon monsters encountered in the next book, for example. Nor would Tintin and/or Calculus venture out into space again. It's as realistic a tale as it can be, and, as such, would clearly be difficult to sustain as a new direction for the series.
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rossn
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Post by rossn on Apr 9, 2019 12:44:01 GMT -5
I think that's a perfectly valid response to the two Moon adventures, rossn . Myself, I've been interested in space exploration since I was a child -- especially the mid-century American space exploration of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs. So, obviously my enjoyment of these books is going to be coloured by that interest. If you're not much into astronomy, rocket science and space exploration, then I guess these probably unlikely to be your favourite Tintin stories. As noted in my review, my big criticisms of Destination Moon are that Tintin himself gets rather overshadowed by Captain Haddock and Professor Calculus, and that the "hard science" you refer to sometimes makes the dialogue a bit of a slog. Thanks, and yeah I think that's a big part of it really. Intellectually I understand the work Hergé put into this and admire but since meticulous space exploration isn't all that thrilling to me it leaves me a bit cold. I agree Tintin is a bit sidelined here. I suppose realistically there just isn't much for him to do given the nature of the setup; bright as he is our hero isn't a rocketry expert or astronomer and he certainly can't fill the comedic role Captain Haddock is holding. Again, this is a fair enough opinion. However, I would counter slightly by saying that I've always regarded the authentic period detail and strong sense of geographical place you mention to be by-products of Hergé's meticulous dedication to accuracy. Whatever else they might be, the Moon books are definitely meticulously accurate (at least by the standards of early 1950s science and knowledge). So, I think Hergé is again on point as far as authentically conjuring a specific place and time goes, it's just that this time it's a secret rocketry complex, rather than an exotic foreign location. Oh, I agree it stems from very much the same source it is just that for me a secret rocketry complex is artistically quite drab and ugly certainly combined with a mid-century cityscape or the wilderness. The palette is stark and industrial throughout, with even the mountains largely barren of trees or snow and while it feels technically exact it leaves me feeling claustrophobic and unsatisfied. I might not mind so much but we are not so far removed from the riot of colours and locations that marked the Inca duology. Good point. I hadn't thought of that. I suppose it's certainly possible that the Syldavian royal family didn't survive the Second World War. I think this might have been in part because of Hergé's commitment to realism. In 1950 all of the pre-war Balkan monarchies had been replaced by communist dictatorships, except for Greece which was only just coming out of a bitter civil war (and was thus entirely unsuited as a model for other reasons.) It would have been difficult to portray a 'realistic' monarchical Syldavia that had remained unchanged since King Ottokar's Sceptre. On the other hand Hergé himself was a committed Belgian royalist and personal friends with King Leopold III ( whose own position was very unstable during the period these stories were written) so I don't think he would have wanted to display Syldavia as a republic, let alone a communist republic, so he evaded the issue by not mentioning the government at all. I've always assumed that Dr. Wolff is Syldavian myself, as are the other technicians and scientists at the Sprodj Atomic Research Centre. As for Borduria, my memory's hazy about mentions of the place in later Tintin books, but in King Ottokar's Sceptre it is clearly analogous with the Axis powers of WW2. Is Borduria even shown as being hostile towards Syldavia after King Ottokar's Sceptre? I think the more in-depth answers to these questions will have to wait for The Calculus Affair. I think Hergé would've probably agreed with that sentiment. As successful as the Moon books were, and as important as they clearly were to Hergé himself, I think it's telling that, afterwards, the Tintin books return to the more familiar mystery/detective themed stories that we associate with the series. Hergé obviously realised that he was in unusual territory for Tintin with these books; right from the moment he started writing them he was careful to cut out anything fanciful or unrealistic from the two-parter. I mean, there are no Moon monsters encountered in the next book, for example. Nor would Tintin and/or Calculus venture out into space again. It's as realistic a tale as it can be, and, as such, would clearly be difficult to sustain as a new direction for the series. I agree!
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 15, 2019 18:54:25 GMT -5
Explorers on the Moon (French: On a marché sur la Lune) Original publication dates: October 1952 – December 1953 First collected edition: 1954 Author: Hergé Tintin visits: Outer space, Adonis asteroid, the Moon (Hipparchus and Ptolemaeus craters in the Sea of Nectar), Syldavia (Sprodj Atomic Research Centre). Overall rating: Plot summary available here. Publisher's synopsis: Under the direction of Professor Calculus, the first manned rocket is hurtling through space. Onboard are Tintin, Snowy, Captain Haddock, and their companions. The flight is perilous enough, but even greater hazards are in store once the rocket is safely landed on the Moon. The explorers have narrow escapes as they make great scientific discoveries - But there is treachery afoot. Tintin and Snowy have never faced such dangers, and their fate hangs precariously in the balance.Comments: I think one of the most obvious differences between Explorers on the Moon and its predecessor, is that Tintin is much more front and centre in this episode. I complained in my review of Destination Moon that the young reporter was reduced to little more than a co-star in his own book, with Captain Haddock and Professor Calculus taking the lead roles. In this volume, Tintin is much more heavily involved with the drama of the rocket mission and the Moon landing, even though it is again arguably Calculus – with his technical know-how and exploratory passion – who really drives the story forwards. The book opens where the preceding volume left off, with Tintin, his dog Snowy, and Captain Haddock, Professor Calculus, and Frank Wolff flying through space on board the first manned rocket to the Moon. However, within a page or two, it is discovered that the bungling detectives Thomson and Thompson are also on board, having accidentally been inside the rocket when it blasted off from the Sprodj Atomic Research Centre in Syldavia. Now, while the Thom(p)sons are a welcome addition to the crew of the rocket from a reader's perspective, their presence presents some problems for our heroes. Most pressingly, the rocket's oxygen supply has only been calculated for 4 humans and Snowy, and therefore there's a good chance they'll all die of asphyxiation before they return to Earth. This becomes a major plot point and a source of considerable narrative tension as the book progresses. I noted in my last review just how far ahead of its time Tintin's Moon adventure was, in terms of real world space exploration. Hergé began the adventure more than 7 years before the launch of Sputnik 1 (which was the first man-made satellite), and it would be another another 12 years after that before Neil Armstrong would actually follow in Tintin's footsteps and walk on the Moon. It surely can't be coincidence that Golden Press published both Destination Moon and Explorers on the Moon in the U.S. in 1969. It must've been to capitalise on the publicity surrounding the Apollo 11 Moon landing and the public's resultant interest in all things moon-related. For the benefit of our American readers in the forum, here are the U.S. first edition hardbacks of the two books from 1969... Hergé himself also took time to commemorate Armstrong and the Apollo program's achievement. In July 1969, he created a wonderful colour drawing showing the Apollo astronaut stepping out onto the lunar surface, only to be greeted by Tintin, Snowy, Haddock and Calculus, who, as fans of the series knew, had gotten there some 16 years earlier... The first third of Explorers on the Moon depicts life inside the rocket, and it does so in a rather whimsical manner. There are plenty of zero gravity shenanigans, Haddock gets rolling drunk on a couple of occasions, and the Thom(p)son Twins have a relapse of the strange side-effects caused by the Formula 14 pills that they accidental swallowed in Land of Black Gold... As well as seeing the Thom(p)sons sprouting ever-changing, psychedelic-coloured beards and blowing bubbles out of their mouths, there's another nod to Land of Black Gold in this book, when the two detectives appear to re-tread their own footsteps on the Moon's surface, just as they did with their tire tracks when they were lost in the desert in the earlier adventure. That said, I can't help but wonder – given later revelations – whether the additional sets of footprints that they see actually belong to Wolff and another as-yet undiscovered stowaway? I mean, I kind of doubt it, but it is an interesting point to ponder. During their journey to the Moon, Tintin and his crewmates have a dangerous encounter with the Adonis asteroid. Although this episode certainly provides some additional excitement in an already tense mission, there appears to be an error here because Calculus states that the asteroid orbits the Sun between Mars and Jupiter. If that is the case, then why has the rocket to the Moon encountered it? A look at Wikipedia informs me that the Adonis asteroid actually has an erratic orbit between Venus and Mars, which I guess means that the rocket might feasibly encounter it on its way to the Moon. I wonder if this could be a mistake by Hergé's translators, rather than Hergé himself? Maybe in the original French the asteroid's orbit is correctly stated as being between Mars and Venus? Regardless, the encounter with this celestial body ends in a manner that is both fanciful and quite dark, with Tintin having to lasso Haddock – who has gone for a drunken, self-pity fuelled, suicidal space-walk outside the rocket – and bring him back on board, at considerable risk to himself. The escapade ends with the boy reporter and his inebriated friend having a heated exchange of words... Actually, characters getting into heated exchanges seems to be a reoccurring theme in this two-parter, since a number of cast members lose their tempers with each other. The moment where Explorers on the Moon really comes into its own is when Tintin and his friends reach the lunar surface. Tintin is, of course, the first one to step out onto the Moon, although his first words from the surface aren't quite as eloquent or poetic as Armstrong's... The lunar landscape is depicted here as being craggy and mountainous, rather than being comprised of the gently undulating hills of reality (which, as I mentioned in my previous review, is a result of Hergé having been influenced by the lunar landscape seen in the 1951 American sci-fi film Destination Moon). Nevertheless, the stark desolation and untouched beauty of the real Moon is captured very well by Hergé and his assistant Bob de Moor... Remember, this comic strip was published years before the Apollo lunar flybys and landings, and years before anyone had even sent an unmanned probe up to the Moon. Hergé and De Moor give us panel after panel of gorgeous moonscapes which, although slightly too mountainous, offer us a rather faithful depiction of the lunar surface. Like in Destination Moon, Hergé is keen to teach the reader as much about the science of the Moon mission as possible in this book, which again makes for more interesting, but ultimately rather verbose, dialogue. Unfortunately, the accuracy of the science in Explorers on the Moon is a little bit more hit and miss than it was in the last book. But then, this volume is taking us further into the realm of what was then science fiction, rather than the relatively well known rocketry and nuclear science that filled the last book. Among the more glaring scientific errors on display is the fact that Calculus's rocket has artificial gravity inside, which, we are told, is created by the craft's constant acceleration. Thing is, even today, the fastest rockets humanity can build can't produce enough sustained thrust to replicate Earth-like gravity. Another error would be Hergé's disregard for the added mass that the additional stowaways inside the rocket would create. This added mass would undoubtedly cause a number of problems with the rocket's launch, fuel consumption, and trajectory. In Hergé's defence, it's probably likely that none of the astronautics books he studied as he worked on this story gave him reason to consider this particular problem. He was, after all, writing about things that would not happen in the real world for many years. A further error would be that, when descending towards the lunar surface, the crew of the rocket suffer from the effects of crushing gravity, much like they did when blasting off from Earth. However, the Moon's gravity is only one-sixth of Earth's, so I can't see how the deceleration could be intense enough to cause the characters to blackout. The same applies to when they blast away from the Moon's surface and again pass out. Putting aside those nitpicky criticisms, something that Hergé does kind of get right is that he predicts the existence of frozen water on the Moon. Now, what Hergé actually suggests is that there was once flowing water on the Moon, which current scientific thinking says isn't the case. However, ice was discovered on the Moon in 2008, so Hergé was at least partially correct on that score. While Tintin and Haddock's discovery of the evidence of water on the Moon might not have been entirely scientifically accurate, the drawings of the subterranean lunar cavern that Hergé treats us to are so gorgeous that it hardly matters... Actually, Tintin's discovery of ice is a perfect example of why Explorers on the Moon holds up so well to modern eyes. As noted in my review of Destination Moon, Hergé was careful to remove anything from his Moon adventure that seemed fanciful or unrealistic. I mean, he could've had Tintin encounter aliens, or even extra-terrestrial spiders or mushrooms – as he did in The Shooting Star – but he didn't. He only included what common sense and then-current scientific knowledge could reasonably assume was on the Moon, and this book is all the better for it. Something else I really like about Explorers on the Moon is the ongoing sub-plot about a group of foreign spies listening in to the rocket's transmissions. Exactly why they are doing this isn't immediately clear, and it keeps you guessing right up until the brilliant twist near the end of the book, when it is revealed that Colonel Boris Jorgen – who had previously appeared as an antagonist in King Ottokar's Sceptre – is also onboard the rocket! In addition, Calculus's assistant, Frank Wolff, is revealed to be a traitor who is in cahoots with Jorgen. I feel as if Wolff cuts a rather pathetic and tragic figure, once his betrayal is exposed, since he was manipulated into working for this rival foreign power after they exploited his gambling debts. Wolff does redeem himself, however, when he struggles with Jorgen, causing the villain's pistol to accidentally go off, killing him. While it's unusual in a Tintin book for the villain to die, it has happened before in the series, with Alonso and Ramón in The Broken Ear, for example. Realising that the crew will need all of the oxygen that they can get – what with all the additional stowaways using up the precious air – Wolff nobly sacrifices himself to save his crewmates and make up for betraying them. I've read on Wikipedia that, upon the strip's original publication, Hergé faced criticism over Wolff's suicide because killing yourself was widely viewed as a sin in Catholic-dominated Belgium. As a result of this criticism, the author added Wolff's line, "perhaps by some miracle I shall escape too" to the book version, in order to make the guilt-ridden scientist's sacrifice less obviously a suicide. If this all seems a bit dark for a Tintin book, you'd be right. From the threat of the entire cast dying of asphyxiation before they get home, to Haddock's suicidal space-walk, to Jorgen's violent death, and Wolff's noble suicide, there is rather a lot of darkness in Explorers on the Moon. There's also a fair bit of gallows humour and black comedy on display too. For one thing, there's Calculus's excited summation of the two most likely outcomes of their mission, as the rocket descends towards the lunar surface... And then there's this deliciously dark and rather amusing reference to composer Franz Schubert's "The Gravedigger"... Overall, I'd have to say that Explorers on the Moon is another tour de force by Hergé. His writing, meticulous attention to detail, and exquisite artwork all reach a new peak in this two-part Moon adventure, and particularly in this second instalment. This is an exciting and tense story, with the book's climax in particular being very gripping; with oxygen running low in the rocket, Tintin and his compatriots race back to Earth and the reader finds themselves on the edge of their seat, wondering will they/won't they survive. Although I'm not 100% convinced that a journey into outer space and to the Moon is really in keeping with the pulpy, detective story vibe of The Adventures of Tintin, I do like this book a lot. I've been fascinated by the Apollo program and the Moon landings since I was a little kid, so it's little wonder that Explorers on the Moon is one of my favourites. If space exploration isn't really your thing then your mileage may vary, but for my money, this is another top notch Tintin book, filled with excitement, daring-do, and the wonder of exploration. As such, it gets full marks from me.
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Post by thwhtguardian on Apr 15, 2019 21:06:16 GMT -5
This two parter is seriously one of my favorite comic book stories.
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